Don't Get Too Close
by Samantha Carpin
Summary: A quick story of Rose Weasley as she gets ready to start her first year at Hogwarts.


"Rose, get up! We're going to be late."

"Hurmph," I moaned, still half asleep as my Mum shook me awake.

I hate waking up early. I always have. Dad says I was a strange baby for the fact that I always slept through the night after the first few days home from the hospital. But he says that I made up for it by screaming my lungs out during the day.

Anyway, by the time I willed myself to start getting out of bed, Mum had already left my room.

"Hurry up, Rose! We're all downstairs."

"I'm going, I'm going." Of course everyone else is down there. My whole family is always up at the crack of dawn. I decided there was no use sitting in my pajamas; I needed to get ready. I had something to look forward to break the monotony of home. I was finally going to Hogwarts!

I'd been waiting as long as I could remember to go to school. I couldn't wait to learn all of the useful spells that would help me get a job at the ministry one day. I wanted to be an Auror just like my dad and Uncle Harry.

I looked up at my Chudley Cannons poster above my bed, contemplating if I wanted to pack it at the last minute. _Why not bring my support for my Quidditch team to school_, I decided. When I tried to take it off my wall, it wouldn't budge.

"Permanent Sticking Charm," I mumbled to myself, slightly annoyed. Dad must've put it there when he insisted to hang it up for me. Merlin forbid I ever switch teams or something and put a new poster up. I never would though. Dad would disown me if I betrayed his team. He is probably the most devout Cannons fan in the Wizarding World, even if they are the worst team in the league.

I went to my trunk and pulled on the clothes I was wearing for the day until I would change into my school robes. I put on my jeans and purple jumper then decided a quick brush of my hair would do for today. I was going to be on a train all day; there was no need to look fancy.

When I made it downstairs, Hugo was finishing his cereal and Mum and Dad were quietly discussing something quietly in the corner of the kitchen. They were speaking quite animatedly, so I hoped they weren't arguing about something small and unimportant again. They do that a lot, but it's never anything serious. My parents may fight a lot, but they are perfect for each other. Uncle Harry told me that Dad's been in love with Mum since their first year at Hogwarts.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in. Finally," said my brother tauntingly.

"Good morning to you too, Bud," I said as I ruffled his hair. He hates it when I do that.

"It's a good thing you're down here. Mum was about to go mental."

"Don't exaggerate, Hugo. I just don't want to get to King's Cross late and have Rose miss the Hogwarts Express. Do you have everything packed, Sweetie?" She asked for about the hundredth time since the night before.

"Yes, Mum," I sighed heavily.

"Are you sure? Do you have all of your clothes? Robes? Books? Cauldron? Your wand?

"Yes, Mum, you checked countless times last night before bed." I was starting to get annoyed at this point. I love my Mum dearly, but she is the biggest worrier I have ever met.

"Stop worrying, Hermione. Even if she does forget something, we can always owl it to her," said Dad, smiling, but sounding a bit exasperated himself. I bet Mum talked his ear off last night about all her worries about sending me off.

"Alright then. Eat your breakfast, Rose. I want to leave in ten minutes so we can meet the rest of the family at Kings' Cross."

"I wish I was going to Hogwarts with you, Rosie," whined Hugo. He was more anxious to go to school than I was.

"I wish you were coming too, Hugo. But, hey, you've only got two more years until you get to come," I reminded him.

"But that's too long," he said impatiently. "I want to go _now_. Can't you just hide me in your trunk? I'm sure I'd fit."

"I don't think I can do that. I'm sure someone would find you," I said smiling. Hugo and I are really close. We almost never fought as children. Our Aunt Ginny marvels at this. Our cousins James and Albus are fighting almost all of the time about something. It's a miracle they haven't killed each other yet.

"And I'm not letting both of my babies go at the same time," interrupted Mum. "Are you almost done, Rose? We need to get going."

"Yeah, I'm done, Mum.

"Alright, go upstairs and get your things. And make sure you have everything"

I went upstairs to get my trunk and looked around my room one last time. I had never lived anywhere else but my home here in London. The longest time I had been away from home was few nights at Nana and Granddad Weasley's. It then hit me how much I was going to miss it here. I would miss playing backyard Quidditch with Hugo, playing jokes with Dad, and discussing books with Mum.

After reminiscing, I grabbed my trunk and headed downstairs. God, that thing was heavy. You'd think I had packed the thing full of bricks.

"Mum, Dad, were your trunks this heavy when you went to Hogwarts?" I asked, winded from lugging my boulder of a trunk down the stairs.

"Every year, Rosie. Mum's was probably even heavier with all the extra books she packed," Dad said, planting a kiss on Mum's blushing cheek.

"Eww, I just ate!" Hugo said disgustedly.

"You know, Hugo, one day you're going to like girls and want to kiss them," said Dad, his arm still around Mum.

"But today is not that day," said Hugo, pretending to dry heave.

"Okay, everybody, we need to get going if we want to make it to King's Cross on time," said Mum anxiously.

Dad helped me heave my colossal trunk out to the car. Did I mention it was heavy? We decided to take the car because Mum says it's always better to use Muggle travel going somewhere crowded and busy like King's Cross. Apparating and popping up somewhere would attract attention and questions from nosy Muggles.

Dad excitedly got into the driver's seat of our Ford Anglia. Mum is the better driver of my parents, being Muggle-born and all, but Dad wanted to drive in busy London traffic for the first time. Honestly, I was a bit frightened by this. I didn't want to get killed in a car accident the day I was going to Hogwarts. Also, he let it slip to me that he Confunded the instructor during his Muggle driving test. But he gave me a galleon when I promised not to tell Mum.

The drive through London took longer than it should have. There was a car wreck, which slowed down the traffic immensely. I thought Mum was going to give herself a heart attack. She kept saying that we were going to be late, how was I going to get to school when I missed the Hogwarts Express, and that Dad should have let her drive. Needless to say it wasn't a very enjoyable ride to King's Cross.

Honestly, though, it wasn't as long as Mum made it out to be. She just gets overdramatic. And she wonders where Hugo got his tendency to exaggerate from.

But with many curse words from Dad's mouth and dirty looks in response from Mum, we made it to King's Cross with plenty of time to spare.

"Okay, Rose, here's your ticket. Do _not_ lose it," warned Mum as she handed me my ticket for Platform 9 ¾.

"Don't worry. I'm very responsible. Just like my Mum," I said smiling

"I'm going to missed you, Sweetheart," said Mum, with tears in her eyes, pulling me into a hug.

"Oi, Harry! How are you, mate?" I heard Dad yell. Aunt Ginny, Uncle Harry, and my cousins, James, Albus, and Lily must've just arrived. "See, Hermione, we weren't late at all. Hermione started going mental in the car when we got stuck in traffic."

"I was _not_!" said Mum defensively.

"Okay, Love, whatever you say," said Dad, giving in before getting Mum worked up again.

"Alright, everybody, how about we get on through the barrier," said Uncle Harry, anxious to get everybody on the train on time. He always seems apprehensive about going through the barrier. You'd think he ran into a solid one before.

It was my first time getting onto platform 9 ¾. After looking at what seemed to be a solid brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10, I started to get a bit nervous. It just didn't make sense that I would just walk into this wall and I'd be on a totally different train platform.

"Hi, Rose, are you excited?" asked Lily as I snapped out of my reverie.

"Wha- Oh hey, Lily! Yeah, I'm really excited. Only two more years until you and Hugo are getting on the Hogwarts Express with me, James, Albus."

"Two years too long! James tells me about all of the amazing things at Hogwarts. And now Albus won't even be here to keep me company," said Lily longingly. "I can't wait to go."

"Hugo's the same way. This morning, he asked if he could hide in my trunk and come with me."

"I don't blame him," Lily said, chuckling. "So do you think you'll try out for the Quidditch team?"

"I don't think so. It's extremely rare for first years to make it on the team," I said. The last person to make it on one of the school Quidditch teams as a first year was Uncle Harry. And he was the first one in about a hundred years. I could never dream of being that good so young. Even Aunt Ginny didn't start playing on the Gryffindor team until her fourth year. And she use to play professionally for the Holyhead Harpies!

"Well, you never know. Dad made the team his first year."

"Yeah, but your dad is good at just about everything, Lils."

"Either way, you should still go out for the team."

"I'll think about it," I chuckled.

"Rose, it's almost eleven you should probably get on the train," said Mum

Oi! Look over there. That must be Malfoy's Scorpius," said Dad, tearing my attention away from getting on the train.

I looked over to see a skinny boy with blonde, almost white hair. He was the exact replica of his father, Draco Malfoy, who was hugging him stiffly, but still somehow affectionately. From the stories I hear about his family, he'll no doubt be sorted into Slytherin.

"Make sure you beat him at every test, Rosie. It's a good thing you've got your mother's brains," said Dad, with a hint of competition in this voice. Had he still kept this childhood rivalry up for so many years?

"Oh, Ron, don't make them enemies before they've even started school," said Mum, the open-minded one, as usual.

"Anyway," continued Dad, "don't get too close to him, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure blood."

_You don't have to worry about that, Dad. I would _never_ have anything to do with the son of a Death Eater_, I thought to myself as I boarded the train that would take me to the next chapter of my life.

**Hope you guys liked it. This was my first story, so it might be a bit rough. Please rate and review and tell me how I did!**

**If you liked it, I might write a full-length story about Rose and Scorpius.**


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